Our Project

Click on picture for full size view
Use your browser's "Back" button to return to this page

The engine was made as a demonstration project for the 2002 AAW Symposium in Providence  June 2002. Made of various types of wood, the engine is based on the *Corliss design made by the Corliss Steam Engine Company of Providence, RI. The machine ran on compressed air at the symposium. Those in the picture from left to right are Tom Schwab, Larry Dunklee, Jeff Mee, Angelo Iafrate, George Nazareth and John Chakuroff. 

Click on picture for full size view
Use your browser's "Back" button to return to this page

Project Background

  In preparation for the American Woodturners International Symposium to be held at the Providence Convention Center in June, 2002, the Ocean Woodturners decided to undertake a woodturning project that would be historically representative of Rhode Island.  It was agreed that we would construct a steam engine out of wood that would run on air pressure rather than steam.

  In 1875, Rhode Island was the world center for the stationary industrial steam engine.  The most famous of the Rhode Island steam engine manufacturers was the Corliss Steam Engine Company. 

The crowning glory of the Corliss company was the gigantic steam engine that was built for the 1876 Centennial Exposition held in Philadelphia.  The engine was 70 feet tall and towered over the Machinery Hall.  The engine weighed over 650 tons and had an output of 1500 horsepower.  The flywheel alone weighed 56 tons and was 30 feet in diameter.  This steam engine powered the entire Machinery Hall at the exposition and symbolized the growing industrial might of the United States.

  The notable steam engine manufacturers from Rhode Island included:

                      Armington and Sims Engine Company, Providence

                      Corliss Steam Engine Company, Providence

                      Grande Foundry and Machine Company, Providence

                      Herreshoff Manufacturing Company, Bristol

                      Nichols and Langworthy, Hope Valley

                      Providence Engineering Works, Providence

                      Providence Steam Engine Company, Providence

                      William A. Harris Steam Engine Company, Providence

  Club members then visited the New England Wireless and Steam Museum in East Greenwich, Rhode Island.  This museum contains many of the steam engines built in Rhode Island and New England.  Bob Merriam, Director of the museum gave us invaluable advice on the various steam engine concepts and he later reviewed our preliminary plans for additional advice.  It was agreed that we would construct a single piston engine with a double stroke, where air is supplied to each side of the piston.  The engine would have a 4 inch power piston, an eight inch stroke and a thirty inch diameter flywheel.  The overall size of the engine would be approximately five feet long, three feet high, and two and a half feet wide.

Design and Fabrication

  The club nominated George Nazareth to lead the project.  The design of the engine and the development of hand drawings for all the components was assigned to Tom Schwab.  The design phase took approximately six months and resulted in over thirty hand- made drawings detailing all of the components including air valve timing.  These hand made drawings were then converted to full scale CAD (computer aided design) drawings by Jeff Mee and Angelo Iafrate.  After finishing the CAD drawings, a presentation of the final design was made to the club at a general meeting.  This occurred approximately nine months from the original undertaking.

  Personnel were then assigned various components of the steam engine for fabrication.  These major components and their makers were:

                               Bedplate-- George Nazareth

                               Power Piston Assembly-- George Nazareth

                               Air Valve Assembly-- John Chakuroff and Larry Dunklee

                               Flywheel and Shaft Assembly-- John Chakuroff

                               Slide Blocks and I-Beam-- Tom Schwab

                               Power Piston Tie Rods--Basil DeWolf

  At the next meeting, George Nazareth had made the entire bedplate from maple and black walnut.  This inspired other people to start working on their components.  Shortly after this, John Chakuroff stated to bring pieces of the flywheel to the meetings and George started making the power piston and cylinder.  Basil DeWolf delivered the threaded rods to secure the flanges of the power piston assembly.  At each meeting new pieces of the steam engine would arrive. It was decided that the parts of the steam engine would be assembled at John Chakuroff’s workshop.  This site was chosen because he had a metal lathe that was required to make many of the interconnecting pieces with very close tolerances.  For example, the power piston with “O” ring seals that slide within a PVC cylinder which is encased in a segmented wood cylinder, and  also the air valve that slides in a wood- encased copper tube.  The piston and connecting rod shafts were also turned on a metal lathe because of their interface with the cylinder endplate.

  In December, 2001, the steam engine was complete with the exception of air piping between the air valve and the power piston. The club had its December meeting at John Chakuroff’s workshop to show the nearly completed engine to the membership.  In April and May, 2002 the air delivery system and timing were fine tuned allowing the successful running of  the engine on high volume low pressure air.  This event was video taped and shown to the membership at the May, 2002 meeting.  A cart to transport the engine was fabricated by Woodcraft Store in East Greenwich and the table was built by Eastern Butcherblock.

Questions or problems regarding this web site should be directed to dicklarowe@yahoo.com
 Copyright © 2006, 2007, 2008 Ocean Woodturners. All rights reserved.